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Gov. Hickenlooper friends with father of dead white supremacist

By Jeremy P. MeyerThe Denver Post

Posted:
03/22/2013 04:59:04 PM MDT

Updated:
03/22/2013 11:38:38 PM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

Evan Spencer Ebel is shown in this undated Colorado Department of Corrections booking photo. Ebel is reported as a suspect in connection to the slaying of Tom Clements, the head of Colorado's prison system on March 26.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Friday he is close friends with the father of the white supremacist who is the focus of the investigation into the killing of one of his Cabinet members and of a pizza-delivery man.

But the governor vehemently denied he had anything to do with the release of parolee Evan Ebel from prison in January. Ebel was killed Thursday after a chase and shootout in Texas.

Ebel's father, Jack, is a lawyer who lives in Boulder. Hickenlooper said he has known Jack Ebel for years. They worked together at an oil company when Hickenlooper was a geologist, and they have stayed close. He also said he knew that Ebel's son was in prison and that the family had been upset that he had spent a large amount of time in solitary confinement.

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Hickenlooper said he didn't know that the younger Ebel, 28, had been released from prison until he was told Thursday that Ebel was possibly linked to the shooting death Tuesday night of Tom Clements, director of Colorado's Department of Corrections.

"I didn't know Evan was out," Hickenlooper said, adding that he was sure that the younger Ebel did his full term in prison.

Hickenlooper stressed that he never asked anyone in the prison system about Ebel and that he never would use his position to make that kind of request. He did say he mentioned the younger Ebel to Clements.

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"I never talked to anyone, never specifically named him to anyone," Hickenlooper said. "A, Jack Ebel would never ask me. I would never do it. I would never, for a friend, I would never ask on Jack's behalf without telling him. I never discussed it with anyone. Tom Clements had never heard of Evan Ebel, never knew he existed and never knew that I knew someone named Evan Ebel."

Hickenlooper said that when he interviewed Clements for the director job, he did mention that he knew someone whose child was in administrative segregation.

"It's a hotly contested issue right now across the country, and one of the things that Tom Clements believed that could do more harm than good," Hickenlooper said. "I said I knew someone in administrative segregation and the family was very concerned and that it was affecting them in a very negative way."

Jack Ebel did donate to Hickenlooper's campaign for governor. But Hickenlooper said that had no connection with Ebel's son being released from prison.

The state Department of Corrections confirmed Friday night that Evan Ebel was released from prison Jan. 28 on mandatory parole, after serving his full sentence. In 2004, he was sentenced to eight years for second-degree assault. He got additional time for assaulting a prison guard in 2006.

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